BAS2019_P02

Hall Farm is the Dairy Research Centre run by the University of Reading and as a result of Nigel Spencer’s good offices we have been able to carry out a resistivity survey to see if we can identify the remains of the medieval village of Arborfield. This was not a simple activity because Saxton’s map of Berkshire dating from 1574 showed the village to be on the north side of the River Loddon, while the church dating to 1220 is on the south side.

We surveyed three fields looking for medieval structures and a fourth to confirm the existence of a building shown on an estate map dating to the early 1800s.

Figure 1 shows the results from the field north of the River Loddon where Saxton located Arborfield. It shows anomalies which probably represent a large building and an associated garden or yard.

Figure 2 shows the results from one of the fields near to the church on the south side of the River Loddon. This shows anomalies on an east west alignment which may represent the medieval buildings.